Rick Perry, Idiot or Greedy Idiot?

It’s easy to write off Rick Perry as a right wing lunatic and an idiot. After all, he denies climate change and evolution and believes social security is nothing more than a taxpayer financed Ponzi scheme that must be abolished. However much Perry believes the absurdities he spews publicly, it is not simply ideological jibberish. In fact, one might wonder if it is ideological at all.

Case in point: as governor of Texas, he mandated HPV vaccinations for teenage girls. It was a great move in terms of public health. However, it was the antithesis of what a typical right wing Christian fundamentalist would support. Many fundamentalists argue that HPV vaccinations promote premarital sex and teenage sexuality, that it is an invasion of privacy and usurps parental control, and that it is classic Big Government waste and repression.

It turns out that Perry’s seemingly hypocritical policy on HPV was shaped by his ties to Merck, which produces HPV vaccine. When confronted with this fact, Perry claimed he only received $5,000 from the pharmaceutical giant, according to Democracy Now. “If you think I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.”

It turns out that he actually received $30,000 from Merck and he can be bought—it just requires slightly more money. However, $30,000 is still pretty cheap, and a fantastic deal for Merck.

Perry’s connections with Merck are not limited to direct campaign donations. One of his aids was also a lobbyist for Merck. The drug company has also donated $380,000 to the Republican Governors Association since 2006, the same year that Perry began to play a prominent role in the organization.

Free Stuff Trumps God in Texas

Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

Over the weekend, Texas Gov. Rick Perry led 30,000 people in prayer at a rally in Houston he dubbed "The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis." 30,000 may seem like a lot of Christians in one place at one time, but even more remarkable than this, they endured seven hours of prayer and religious tinged politicking and anti-abortion hysteria. The gathering was sponsored by the American Family Association, according to Democracy Now, which opposes same-sex marriage and has condemned Muslims, and the International House of Prayer, whose founder believes that Oprah Winfrey is a Satanic religious leader.

At the same time, Democracy Now reported, just seven miles away, 100,000 people attended Houston’s first-ever, back-to-school event, where they received free backpacks, school supplies, uniforms, haircut vouchers, immunizations, and fresh produce. The demand was so intense that officials had to end the event early at 10:00 a.m. and turn people away.

Many of the people attending the back-to-school event were no doubt pious, perhaps even evangelical Christians. But when offered a choice between praying for an end to their privation and receiving free handouts, Texans by and large made the rational decision.

These two events were a stark reminder of the desperation and anxiety gripping so many Americans, with unemployment now worse than during the Great Depression and no visible light at the end of the tunnel. While some are turning to religion to help assuage their anxieties, ultimately they need financial relief. Instead, we are getting threats and punishment by S&P for not slashing government spending on social programs sufficiently or quickly enough.

The downgrading of the U.S. credit rating has been portrayed as an economic disaster for all. In reality, it was a cynical move to exacerbate an existing crisis to justify and speed up the imposition of austerity on the American people.  S&P was asleep at the wheel during the housing crash, having provided AAA ratings to numerous lending agencies that collapsed under the weight of bad loans. Its assessment of the U.S.’s ability to repay its debts can hardly be taken seriously.

At the same time, while millions of Americans continue to struggle daily to make ends meet, they remain indignant over the fact that trillions of dollars were readily available to bail out Wall Street and Detroit, and trillions more continue to be spent to slaughter civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya, while virtually nothing is available to help keep them in their homes, maintain their schools and feed their children.

Reality Banned in Tennessee (Again)

It has been nearly 90 years since the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, which made the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, the laughing stock of the nation, as they successfully punished a science teacher for teaching evolution. The state is at it again, only this time the reality that is being prohibited is homosexuality.

The Tennessee Senate has approved Senator Stacey Campfield’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would prohibit K-8 teachers from acknowledging that there is such a thing as homosexuality. The bill outlaws any curriculum or discussion of “any sexuality other than heterosexuality,” ostensibly to protect children from the complex and confusing nature of homosexuality. The law would also prevent counselors from discussing homosexuality with gay and questioning youth. The bill won’t go before the House until next year.

Contrary to the misinformation put out by the law’s backers, the law does not put into place reasonable controls over the discussion of a controversial topic at school—it seeks to completely eliminate all discussion of the topic. If a child complains to a teacher or counselor that he or she has been bullied because of their actual (or perceived) sexuality, they will be out of luck--their counselors and teachers will be saying “lalalalalala” with their fingers in their ears. And what will happen when young children mention that they have gay parents? Will they be told they don’t or simply be told to shut up?  

Also contrary to proponents’ belief that discussions of sexuality should be completely under the control of parents, it is not possible, nor in the public interest, to attempt such a delusional policy. Children need to learn about how their bodies change during puberty, as well as how to protect themselves from STDs and avoid pregnancy. If such topics were left entirely to parents, many kids would miss out entirely, while others would get incomplete or inaccurate information. The fact remains that many parents are simply uncomfortable having such discussions. Some lack access to accurate and current information, while others, like the backers of this bill, hope to control their children’s personalities and behavior by keeping them ignorant of reality.